Pennies in the Jar
by smartyjonescrzy
Summary: After breaking up with Janine, Vinnie Delpino is rocketed back to the past in the hopes he may patch things with her. But not all is as it seems. Is he only trying to escape reality? And will he fix things with Janine in time, or is he already too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own 'Doogie Howser, MD' nor all affiliated characters, places and events. (Sadly, this includes the incredible Vinnie Delpino.) However, I did have a lot of fun writing this story, and I hope you enjoy it, too. ~ smarty**

* * *

**Pennies in the Jar**

**A Doogie Howser, M.D. Fanfiction**

**Chapter 1**

"Vinnie!"

Eighteen-year-old Vincent Delpino whirled his head around in the direction of the astonished cry. When he caught sight of the culprit, his brown eyes widened in shocked surprise. He gulped and smiled weakly, a sick feeling beginning to well in the pit of his stomach. "Hi, Janine…what are you doin' here?"

"I can't believe you!" Janine Stewart cried, storming into the room and halting in front of the couch. She crossed her arms and glowered furiously at her boyfriend. Or rather, her alleged boyfriend. She jerked a strand of her short, dark blonde hair behind her ear and huffed as she met the pleading, smiling gaze of Vinnie Delpino, who was sitting on the couch with his arm around another girl.

"Believe me, dis is not what you think." Vinnie tittered nervously. He pulled at the collar of his t-shirt and withdrew his hand from around the girl's waist. "Kim here, she was chokin' on her gum, so I had to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." The excuse was weak, even for him. For someone who'd constantly lied and given excuses all his life, it wasn't one of his finer moments. He ought to know.

Vinnie, short, dark, and Italian, had been born girl-crazy, which hadn't left much to be desired in the form of schooling or anything else. Several times, when he'd backed himself into a trap, he'd prevailed on his best friend Doogie Howser to help him out. Somehow, though, he'd made it out of high school and was pursuing a career of filmmaking in college. In fact, he was at that moment supposed to be writing a science-fiction screenplay for his final exam, but obviously had made other plans instead.

"Right, and I guess you believe I was born yesterday." Janine rolled her eyes. She'd known Vinnie ever since she'd moved to Brentwood four years ago, and they'd been dating for the past two. Sometimes, she thought she couldn't be in a more perfect relationship, and at others thought their connection was frayed at best. The ambivalence that pervaded them seemed to cloud the pair in a murky fog, constantly threatening to draw them apart. Right now, nothing seemed to describe Janine's feelings better: a dark, confusing fog. "I can't take this anymore, Vinnie! I came over here expecting you to apologize for last night and you're already carrying on with another woman!"

Kim coughed uncomfortably and stood. "Maybe I should go…"

"No, you're not." Vinnie caught her arm and pulled her back onto the couch. "You're gonna sit and listen to dis. You're da only witness we got." He turned and frowned at Janine, the girl he'd loved and lusted after since he was fourteen years old, and stood doggedly to face her. "Why should _I _have to apologize for last night? You broke our date to go out with some other guy! I followed you!"

"And you totally humiliated me!" Janine retorted, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. "That other man was my new boss! He took me out for a friendly business dinner, for crying out loud! He has a wife and two children!"

"I see!" Vinnie gritted his teeth. "So now you're cheatin' on me with married men!"

"I'm not cheating on you with anybody! And if you'd quit acting like such an ass, maybe you'd understand what I'm talking about!"

Kim slowly edged away on the couch, gazing hopefully at the door. "I really ought to go…"

Vinnie turned to her and pointed angrily at the couch. "Park it right dere, baby, or you're flyin' solo in acting class!"

Janine leaned against his television set, contempt disfiguring her normally cheerful countenance. "You disgust me, Vinnie."

"Yeah?" Vinnie whirled back around to face her. Seeing Janine reclining easily against his furniture, as if she had a right to, only stoked his anger further. Who was she to think she was right all the time? "And I suppose it's all right for you to just barge in on my apartment like you own da place!"

"I didn't. Your roommate let me in." Janine sniffed, raising her chin triumphantly.

Vinnie cursed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "I'll kill him," he muttered before lifting his hurt gaze to meet Janine's once more. "What was I supposed to think when I saw you out with dat guy? You know how much dat killed me? I had every right to do what I did! What else was I supposed to do?"

"It's called 'behaving like an adult.' It was just a friendly business dinner, Vinnie. I don't know what else I'm supposed to say to make you believe me." Janine folded her arms over her chest.

Vinnie copied her movement mockingly. "Dat's another thing. Sometimes I think you like your work better den you like me! It doesn't take a genius to figure out why you have less time for me all of a sudden while you're going out to all your big, fancy business parties. I don't got any place in your life anymore. It's like I'm some awful zit on your forehead dat you can't ignore, even though you want to. Last night was a perfect demonstration of how you'd rather spend your evenings!"

"Vinnie…"

"In fact, I don't blame you!" Vinnie held out his hands, palms up, in front of him. "Let's just look at your options here! On da one hand, you got da short, whiny Italian guy. On da other hand, you got your super amazing job. Short, whiny Italian guy…super amazing job…" He pretended to weigh the two options before tossing the first one over his shoulder. "I'd get rid of me, too!"

Janine had dropped her gaze and was shaking her head at the floor. She couldn't bear to see the raw pain making itself evident on Vinnie's handsome face. Finally, with a heavy heart, she looked up. "No, Vinnie. Stop…" She sighed. "If you can't handle a little jealousy, then maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore."

Vinnie's mouth dropped open. He stared at his girlfriend in shocked silence, feeling as though he'd just been punched in the gut.

Kim got up and hastily started for the door. "I _really _need to go…"

"NO!" Janine and Vinnie shouted, giving Kim a collective murderous glare. Kim flopped back down on the sofa and crossed her arms, sighing heavily.

Vinnie tried to gather some semblance of dignity and forced a laugh. The sound caught in his throat, where a lump was forming, and came out high and strained. "Very funny, Janine. For a second dere, I actually believed you." He swallowed and tried to smile, but for some reason, it was far too difficult. "You know, your boss is wasting your talents. You should be up on a stage behind a microphone."

Janine shook her head. She lifted her gaze and Vinnie could see the sorrow reflected in her eyes. "I love you, Vinnie. But you can be a real jerk sometimes."

She brushed past him and walked out of the apartment without another word. Kim got up and meekly followed her out. She shot Vinnie a dirty look as she went, antagonizing him further.

"Hey, Janine? Wait!" Vinnie called. All he heard in reply was the slam of the front door. The sound reverberated throughout the apartment, leaving a deathly silence in its wake.

"I don't believe it," he murmured numbly, slowly sitting down on the couch. The quiet almost seemed too loud. It left his own mind to deal with the terrible reality of his breakup, a reality he'd rather not think about. He strained his ears for a sound, any sound to break the awful spell. When he couldn't bear the silence any longer, he buried his head in his hands and moaned miserably.

-

_"Hey, dis is Vinnie. I can't come to da phone right now. Probably busy or somethin', you know. So just leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can. Unless you're Professor Meade, in which case you've got da wrong number."_

The answering machine beeped and Doogie Howser's voice crackled over the line. "Vinnie? Are you there? … I just heard from Janine that you guys broke up…um, you okay? Look, call me back whenever you get this. I'm on call, but I should be home all night. So, um, I guess I'll talk to you later, then."

The machine beeped again as Doogie hung up. A red light began blinking on the phone from where it sat on Vinnie's coffee table alongside the television remote and an opened can of salted peanuts. _The Incredible Shrinking Man _lay atop a stack of sci-fi videotapes next to a pile of blank paper and a stubby pencil. On the screen of his television, the movie played quietly, the only noise in the silence of his apartment.

Vinnie himself lay stretched out on the sofa, fast asleep. He stirred softly and snored. The sound came out as a nasal whine because his nose was pressed against the arm of the couch. His clothes lay rumpled and creased, but his form seemed to shrink up inside them comfortably. His steady breathing broke up a little and his dark brows furrowed together in concern. Then they relaxed again and he smiled, sleeping peacefully once more. Sleep certainly seemed to agree with Vinnie. If it were up to him, he'd sleep for days.

A lady on the flickering television screamed. The movie posters hanging on the wall behind it appeared to look almost sinister in the moonlight. Shadows cast from the light streaming in through the window created grotesque forms that fell across the room, one in particular bathing the clock on the wall in an eerie half-light. When the movie fell silent, all that could be heard was the steady, monotonous ticking of the clock. And the strange, effervescent glow of the darkness gave way to the illusion that the clock's hands were actually moving backwards.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Vinnie moaned and blinked, stirring gently. He tried to open his eyes, but the sunlight streaming into the room nearly blinded him. _Dat's funny, _he thought to himself, _my apartment's usually so dark I have to get around it with a red-tipped cane. _He felt the weight of a blanket over him and he grunted. _Mark must've come home and thrown da comforter on me._

Slowly, he threw the blanket back and sat up in bed. He was still drowsy with sleep because it took him a full second to realize that he was in bed. He shouldn't be in bed; he fell asleep on the couch! At least, he thought he did. He shook his head worriedly. _Man, I better not find out I've been drinkin'! _

Suddenly alert, he sat up straight and looked around him. His analytical gaze was greeted with various movie posters and pictures of swimsuit models that covered nearly every inch of the walls, secured firmly with scotch tape. A small nightstand stood next to the bed on which perched a defunct alarm clock whose snooze button had been pressed one too many times. The reading on the small clock blinked insistently, reading that it was one o'clock in the morning. A cluttered desk stood along the wall adjacent to the bed, stacked to capacity with God knows what. A paper fluttered down from on top of the pile to the floor and landed face up. He cocked his head to look at it. Algebra? What was an algebra worksheet doing here?

On the opposite wall, underneath the bright and sunny window, sat a tiny dresser. All of the drawers were open and various articles of clothing hung out of them and lay scattered about the floor below. On top lay his Magic Johnson autographed basketball beside his grimy pair of lucky gym socks (from his first day of seventh grade gym class when he'd tried to tag Melissa Gilbert in a game of flag football and ended up accidentally unsnapping her bra when he tugged on her shirt. Melissa had cried and he got sent to the principal's office, but all in all, it had been a very enlightening experience.) Various photographs lay scattered about the sacred entities. Items that could only be described as junk flowed out of his open closet. The wall calendar tacked next to it pictured Susan Akin, who was smiling and waving at him, bedecked with her crown of Miss America 1986. If Vinnie didn't know any better, he'd think he was back in his old room. But that was impossible. Two months ago, his parents had divorced and sold the house.

He shook his head. "I must still be asleep or somethin'," he murmured. He pushed himself onto his feet and padded into the bathroom. He paused in the doorway, stretched, and yawned before lazily pulling the door behind him. He turned, took one look in the mirror and screamed.

Angela Delpino, pulling on a bathrobe, rushed to the door and pulled it open. Her frizzy brown hair stuck out at all angles and her face mask made her look like a frightening apparition. She'd been in the middle of peeling it off and applying her makeup when he'd called her away with his shout, and it showed. In the mornings, Mrs. Delpino could be a very scary sight. She hung breathlessly in the doorway, staring at her son. "What?"

Vinnie's hands were still holding his face in shock. The usually youthful contours of his face appeared even more so. They seemed so alien to him that he hardly recognized himself. His nose was too short, his ears were too big, his chin was too long, his brows were too thick. A close inspection of his cheeks revealed that the tiny, barely distinguishable freckles that had haunted him in his childhood and he'd finally managed to shake had returned. His normally short black hair was long in the back, nearly touching his shoulders. He was wearing a bright, baggy t-shirt over his boxer shorts. A bulky black wristwatch was strapped to his right wrist. His brown eyes widened as he turned to face his mother. "Mom…what's goin' on here?"

Mrs. Delpino shook her head and smiled, walking over to her son and taking his face in her hands. "It's okay, Vinnie. Nothing to get upset about."

"It's not?" Came his muffled response from against the pink terrycloth robe.

"Of course not." Mrs. Delpino reached up and ran her finger over a tiny bump on his forehead. "It's only a zit. You'll be getting a lot of those now at your age."

"A zit?" Vinnie pulled away and studied his reflection in the mirror once more. He didn't think he could have possibly missed a thing like that on his first horrific inspection. But sure enough, a bright red dot on the middle of his temple glared back at him.

"Don't worry." Mrs. Delpino pulled a jar of white goop out of the bathroom cabinet and scooped some out onto her fingers. She reached around and slathered the cream onto Vinnie's forehead.

"Mo-om!" Vinnie cried and ducked away. He hadn't been coddled like a kid for a long time, and he was quickly finding out that he didn't miss it at all.

"You rub that in." Mrs. Delpino patted his shoulders and kissed the top of his head on her way out. "If your fair skin breaks out, girls are liable to take one look at you and run. Hurry up and get dressed so you can come down for breakfast…"

"…before I miss da bus." Vinnie finished, sighing. His mother's usual wake-up call still had the ability to make him want to crawl right back into bed.

Mrs. Delpino paused in the doorway, smiling at him affectionately. "No. It's Saturday."

As soon as she'd left, he rolled his eyes. Thank goodness for that! He was still confused as to what was going on, but at least no one would be forcing him to go to a school he'd already graduated from. At least, he thought he had. The last time he'd checked, the Brentwood High 'wild things' of '91 were recent alumni history.

He returned to his room to get dressed, which was easier said than done. He shifted through his clothes scattered in the drawers, in the closet, and on the floor, grimacing at the selection. The crazy, vibrant colors and patterns were enough to make his stomach churn. His wardrobe was stuck in the eighties!

A thought suddenly occurred to him that made him turn and face the calendar again. He read the date heading directly underneath Susan Akin and gulped. His clothes were stuck in the eighties because it _was _the eighties. He had somehow become trapped in the year 1987.

-

"No, Mrs. Johnson…the Delpino X3000 is the best showerhead on the market, I guarantee you…of course, I'll come and install it personally! You only get the best service with the best showerhead…" Carmine Delpino argued into the phone at the breakfast table. Unlike his wife, he was already dressed and shaven, ready to face the day and try not to raise his blood pressure any higher. Even though he couldn't help it, he tended to speak rapidly and practically shout when he was flustered, as he was right now. The walls practically bounced with the concussion of his sound waves. He held the phone firmly in his left hand while his right hand slathered butter onto a charred piece of toast sitting in front of him.

"Hey, Pop." Vinnie greeted him before sitting down at the breakfast table. A box of Fruit Loops and a bowl sat at his place. He picked up the box and smiled in amusement. "Oh, goody. Comes with a He-Man action figure and everything."

Mr. Delpino covered the mouthpiece and shot Vinnie an annoyed look. "Tone it down, son. Can't you see I'm on the phone?"

"Yes, Pop." Vinnie murmured, pouring milk out of the carton onto his cereal. When his father turned away, Vinnie glanced at him and smiled. He and his father had always shared a strained relationship at best. Carmine had never gone to college. He was practical, a realist. He was content with the small empire he had managed to carve out for himself; he was, after all, Brentwood's 'king of the showerheads.' He simply couldn't understand why his lazy and imaginative son didn't want to inherit the family business one day.

Many times growing up, Vinnie had wondered whether the reason his father didn't spend any time with him or encourage him was because he was such a disappointment as a son. His father never missed a chance to point out how great the family business was. But Vinnie wanted no part of it. He wanted to go to college, make something of himself one day. For all he knew, he could go on to having his name above the title of the greatest new blockbuster the world had ever seen. Carmine resented his son's ambition and still held vainly onto the dream that the showerhead business he'd worked so hard to create would one day be proudly bestowed from father to son.

In recent years, Vinnie and his father had finally taken steps to begin building a more positive relationship. They would probably never be as close as a father and son should have been, but they'd considered it an accomplishment that they could now exchange more than three words without shouting at each other. However, in 1987 that time was now in the distant future, Vinnie thought dismally.

"Tell you what, I'll throw in the installation for half-price…okay, Mrs. Johnson. Goodbye." Mr. Delpino hung up the phone and sighed, running a hand through his thinning dark hair. When he finally looked up, he threw another slab of butter onto his toast and took a large bite.

Vinnie watched his father in contemplation. If this really was the year 1987, his father was only two years away from having a massive heart attack. In fact, he'd been in the middle of scolding his son for refusing to participate in a showerhead commercial when it had happened. Vinnie remembered it vividly; he'd never been more frightened in his entire life. Looking at his father now, he slowly smiled and stirred his cereal around in his bowl.

"What is your problem, son? Your mom ever tell you not to stare? Eat your breakfast." Mr. Delpino barked gruffly.

"Take care of yourself, Pop." Vinnie said softly.

Mr. Delpino nearly choked on his toast. Since when did Vinnie ever say anything worth thinking about? An icy sense of foreboding slowly crept up his spine. He looked up, disconcerted, at his unusually cryptic son. "Why do you say that?"

Vinnie shrugged and lifted a spoonful of fruit loops to his mouth. "I don't know. I just do…promise me you will?"

"Oh, for God's sake!" Mr. Delpino jumped up from the table and dumped his dishes in the sink, anxious to shake his uneasiness. His wife entering the kitchen proved to be the perfect distraction. Upon her entrance, he instantly turned away. "I'm going to Mrs. Johnson's house to install her showerhead before she changes her mind and buys the drugstore brand, heaven forbid." He grabbed his jacket off of a hook by the door and shrugged it on. He groaned as he bent to pick up his box of tools and showerheads that he always carried out with him. "Then I'm heading over to my office to work on the new prototype. Don't count on me for dinner!" And without another word, he stormed out of the house and slammed the front door behind him.

"Well!" Angela stomped over to the coffee pot and turned it on. She muttered crossly as she took out a plastic mug and banged it down on the counter. The only words Vinnie was able to make out from where he sat were "pig" and "beast."

He sighed. He'd lived on his own for long enough to almost forget what it was like, living in the bickering household of his parents. His sister, who was older by three years, was hardly ever home. She hadn't even gone to the hospital when their father had his heart surgery. She didn't seem to care much for the family, so it was easy for Vinnie to forget she even existed. On the other hand, he didn't blame her for disowning them. He absolutely hated getting caught in the tension between his parents. Often times, he wished he were a member of a different family, a real family. Maybe that's why he always hid out at his best friend Doogie's house next door.

_Doog! _He smiled and finally took a bite of his soggy cereal. _Of course! He'll be able to tell me what's goin' on! He's a doctor; dis is right up his alley! I'll go right over and tell him everything…_

He suddenly bit down on something hard and immediately stopped chewing. He tentatively reached into his mouth and pulled out a thumb-sized green figurine. He held it up to the light and swallowed. "Well, I found He-Man."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Vinnie smiled as he peered into his best friend's bedroom window. Dr. Douglas 'Doogie' Howser turned from where he was fastening his tie at the mirror and caught him looking in. He shook his head and unlatched the window.

"Doog, I gotta talk to you!" Vinnie cried, climbing in through the window and plopping down on the bed. "Somethin' weird is goin' on here. I was hopin' you'd be able to straighten it all out."

"What, no comment on me locking you out?" Doogie grinned and finished straightening his tie.

"Please." Vinnie waved him off. "I haven't got to do it for so long dat I enjoyed it."

Doogie frowned in bemusement. "Vinnie, you came in through my window last night."

"No, I didn't. At least, _I _didn't." Vinnie pointed to himself. "But dat's what I gotta talk to you about."

Doogie sighed. Every single one of Vinnie's problems were a major crisis, no matter how trivial they really were. He always tolerated them and helped his friend as best he could, but he had to admit that it got a little annoying. "I've only got a couple of minutes. Eastman called me in this morning."

Vinnie smiled gratefully as Doogie sat down by his computer. "Don't worry, I'll be brief."

Though Vinnie and Doogie were both the same age, Doogie was not a typical, average teenager. For starters, he'd survived childhood leukemia, finished high school at the age of six and graduated from Princeton at ten. At fourteen, he was not only a fully licensed doctor; he was a genius. In many ways, he was Vinnie's polar opposite. But despite everything, the two had remained best friends ever since they were five years old.

"Okay, dis is gonna sound weird, but…I'm not who you think I am." Vinnie soberly met his friend's gaze, his tone uncommonly low and grave. His hands reached out and gripped the edge of the bed so hard his knuckles turned white. "You see, I'm from da future."

Doogie rolled his eyes. "Look, Vin, I don't have time for this."

"No, you don't understand!" Vinnie leapt to his feet. "I'm not lying about dis. Last night, I fell asleep in my apartment. I have a roommate, his name's Mark. I'm in college, I have…" he coughed and looked at the ground, "had a girlfriend. May God strike me dead if I'm making dis stuff up, but I fell asleep honestly believing dat I was livin' in da year 1991."

Doogie only nodded dubiously. "Right. And my great aunt is Nancy Reagan."

"Doog, come on!" Vinnie groaned pleadingly. He ran a hand through his hair, slowly pacing the room. "Think. Think, Delpino, think." He muttered to himself under his breath. Finally, an idea struck him. He spun around and pointed to Doogie. "Remember when we were six and playing in da sandbox and you told me you were going to be a doctor? A lot of kids would've laughed at you, Doog. I didn't. I believed in you." He slowly sat back down. "Now I need you to believe in me."

"Nice guilt trip." Doogie nodded, impressed.

"Thanks. I've been savin' dat one for years." Vinnie grinned. In fact, he'd probably already used it, but perhaps that moment was still to come.

His friend paused for a long moment, then finally said, "I think you'd better start at the beginning."

-

"…And so I wake up dis morning and I'm fourteen again!" Vinnie finished, gesturing to himself incredulously. "Now, you're a doctor. You understand dis sort of stuff. What I want to know is A, how da hell did I get here and B, how do I ever get back?"

"Wow." Doogie sat back in contemplation. "That's some story."

"Come on, lay it on me. Did I stumble into another realm? An alternative universe of some sort? Did I somehow cross da time-space continuum by mistake?" Vinnie waited pensively, but his friend still said nothing. He gestured impatiently. "Feel free to jump in at any time."

Doogie slowly shook his head. "It's just not scientifically plausible."

"But it happened, didn't it?"

Doogie shrugged. "I really don't know for sure that anything happened."

"Great. Now you think I should be checked into an insane asylum." Vinnie rolled his eyes. "Come on, Doog! Help me out here!" He leaned forward, his brows furrowed pleadingly.

"Vin, you've been watching too much science fiction." Doogie smiled. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for how you're feeling. For example, you could've had a premonition, or experienced some sort of deja-vu while you were sleeping."

"No, no, no." Vinnie fervently shook his head. "I haven't seen da future. I've lived it. What else am I supposed to say to make you believe me?" At that moment, he did get a strange sense of deja vu. Why did his words sound so familiar?

"Okay, then." Doogie sat back in his chair. "Since you know everything about the future, you won't mind my asking a couple of questions."

Vinnie moaned and closed his eyes. "I hate pop quizzes."

"Who wins next year's presidential election?"

Vinnie relaxed and smiled. "Dat's easy. Bush."

"The Cold War…?"

Vinnie laughed and waved the supposition away. "Ancient history."

"The winner of the '91 Super Bowl?"

Vinnie shrugged. "Da Giants. Who else?"

"Thanks, I'll be sure to place my bet early." Doogie paused. "You're actually going to _date _Janine Stewart?"

Vinnie frowned. "What have you got against Janine?"

Doogie held his hands up in defense. "Nothing! It's just…she's new to Brentwood. I don't know her very well."

"You will, though." Vinnie gazed down at his lap dolefully. "She's an amazing friend. She's smart, she's funny…beautiful, too. She was perfect for me, Doog. I loved her…and I think I still do." He murmured, his voice close to cracking.

"Vin, you all right?" Doogie reached out and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. He'd never seen Vinnie act this way. Vinnie could be whiny, irritating, annoying and immature, but never serious. When he'd listened to his friend describe Janine, it had been the first time Doogie had ever heard Vinnie mention girls without any reference to sex whatsoever. His behavior was certainly peculiar, to say the least; it troubled Doogie. Perhaps there was some merit to Vinnie's fantastic story, after all.

"It doesn't matter, though." Vinnie sniffed, lifting his head. He stared fixedly at a point on the wall, his countenance grim. "I'm gonna mess it all up, anyway."

At that moment, a sudden thought occurred to him. He stood up again, his visage brightening by the second. An ardent gleam in his eyes made Doogie a little uneasy, but there was no capping his excitement. "But maybe…it doesn't have to be that way!" He whirled around and grinned at his best friend, throwing his arms wide. "Doog! Don't you see? Dis is my second chance! I get to do it all over again! I don't have to make da same mistakes I did da first time!" He nodded happily. "Now I know why I was sent here."

Doogie shook his head. "Vinnie, you were not _sent _here. What you're saying goes against the laws of physics. You _cannot _turn back the clock. Even if you may have a reason to, you can never go back! It's just not feasible!"

"Oh, no? Den what am I doing here?" Vinnie grinned when his friend didn't answer. Even Doogie was stumped this time. "I'm reborn again, Doog! And dis time around, I'm hangin' onto Janine!" He laughed and climbed up on Doogie's desk, starting out the window.

"Wait!" Doogie grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him back. Vinnie turned to him and waited, slightly exasperated. He grinned sheepishly. "In case this isn't just some sort of gag…could you tell me something about my future?"

Vinnie smiled, his eyes dancing mischievously. "I've got two words for you: Wanda Plenn."

"Wanda Plenn?" Doogie's jaw dropped in amazement. "I get to go out with Wanda Plenn?"

"You go a lot farther den dat, my friend." Vinnie grinned and punched Doogie's shoulder. "Bada-boom!"

Doogie smiled as Vinnie turned and crawled out the window. Perhaps he was still the same guy he knew, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Vinnie grappled the tree branch he was stretched out on for dear life, his gaze trained intently on the house of his future girlfriend's parents. The leaves partially shaded the house from view, but he'd discovered a small window through the foliage from which he could see the upstairs windows. He watched closely for some sign of Janine, _any _sign of Janine. If he could see her, talk to her, just somehow change their future and start again, he'd be content.

The front door opened and Vinnie held his breath. He sat up straighter, propping himself up on his elbows. A burr caught on his arm and tore his skin, but he hardly felt it. He so badly wanted to catch a glimpse of his beloved Janine.

But it was Mr. Stewart who appeared at the door, wearing a terrycloth bathrobe. He yawned and stretched, gazing out at his lawn happily. Then he bent down to pick up the morning paper and retreated back into the house.

Vinnie sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't care much for Mr. Stewart, his main reason being that the man _hated _him. Janine's father always affectionately referred to him as 'the Italian hood,' and had repeatedly attempted to stop Vinnie from seeing his daughter. Luckily for Vinnie, Janine had resisted Mr. Stewart's efforts and stuck by him determinedly. That is, until the other night she had.

Vinnie shook his head and shuddered. That didn't matter now. He was back in the past. He could change things between them for the better. If only he'd get a chance to see her!

There was a movement in one of the upstairs windows. Vinnie crawled out further on the branch, straining to get a better view. The tree limb groaned under his weight, shaking up and down unsteadily. Vinnie glanced worriedly at the ground below for a second, then turned his attention back to the window.

A feminine hand drew back the pink curtain and Janine's bright young face peeked out, smiling at the morning sunshine outside. Her skin seemed to shine radiantly. The way the sunlight caught her short golden hair made it glow like a halo around her face. But what was more, Vinnie was getting a full view of her torso in the window, and Janine was wearing nothing but her bra.

Vinnie's brown eyes widened. He shivered convulsively, a low moan escaping the back of his throat. He felt light-headed all of a sudden and his stomach gave a lurch. "Ohhh…" He groaned, feeling his eyes roll back into his head. Before he could stop himself, his hands loosened their grip on the branch and he was falling, down, down. He was out before he hit the ground.

-

"Hey, are you okay?"

Vinnie blinked, trying to regain his senses. He was lying on his back, the sun was glaring right in his face, and he felt like he'd just been trampled by an elephant. A hazy figure hovered over him, swirling about in circles over his head. A hand flitted about his cheek and patted it gently, encouraging him to return to full consciousness.

"Janine?" He gasped, blinking rapidly.

"How do you know my name?"

Vinnie turned and rolled over on his stomach, hurling into the grass on the front lawn. When he was finished, he lay on his back and sighed. The world had finally stopped spinning. Then he smelled his breakfast lying next to him and he moaned. He'd forgotten about how he used to get sick around girls. In fact, the first time he'd ever taken Janine out for one of their infamous 'nature walks,' he'd ended up getting sick all over her dress. He still considered it a miracle that she decided to out with him again after that. "I hate puberty," he mumbled.

"That's disgusting!"

He looked up to see Janine grimacing above him, pinching her nose with her hand. His heart fluttered and he began to breathe more rapidly. She was even lovelier up close, even though, much to his disappointment, she had put on a blouse since he'd last seen her.

"Janine…you're absolutely beautiful," he breathed, staring up at her.

Janine slowly uncovered her nose, looking more confused than ever. "Who are you?"

"Umm…" Vinnie quickly pushed himself to his feet. As soon as he was standing upright, he felt woozy again. He reached out and clung to Janine's shoulder. "I'm Vinnie Delpino. You don't know me, but I know you."

"What, are you like, stalking me or something?" Janine frowned and pushed him away.

"No! Uh…I've just seen you around school and stuff." Vinnie gripped his head and smiled. The words were coming easier now. "I sit behind you in French class."

Janine raised her eyebrows. _"You're _the creepy kid who stares at the back of my head all period?"

"You've got a very lovely head." Vinnie shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. "How'd you know?"

"Wanda Plenn told me. She sits next to you." Janine crossed her arms, regarding him coolly.

"Hey, Wanda's good at French. I have to have somebody to copy off of in dat class." Vinnie grinned at her sheepishly. Even when Janine was upset with him, he still found her unbearably attractive.

As if reading his thoughts, Janine's eyes went over him appraisingly, from his long dark hair to his oversized shirt to his white Nike high tops. Her lip curled down, unimpressed. "You're weird…and you're weird-looking."

Vinnie swallowed and looked down at the ground. Rejection from his future girlfriend was about the last thing he could take right now. At this rate, how was he ever supposed to make things right between them?

"Look, I…I know I'm not exactly dis big, handsome stud…" He lifted his gaze to meet hers. For the first time, he noticed her eyes were brown. They were even the same hue as his, a rich dark brown that lit up and sparkled. The mirror reflection of his eyes made him shiver and he smiled tentatively. "But you tell me how many incredibly handsome studs would fall in love with da back of your head."

Janine giggled and smiled, shaking her head at him. "You know, you're kind of cute in a funny, weird sort of way."

"Really?" Vinnie perked up immediately. Perhaps all hope was not lost after all. She thought he was cute! In his own funny, weird sort of way, he was cute! He was so overjoyed at the prospect that he felt he had to give her something, but neither was quite ready to be touching each other just yet. He felt around in his pockets for anything he might be carrying and his hand clamped over a long, mushy object. He slowly pulled it out and gazed down at his palm. It was a melted Mars Bar. He shrugged, thinking it was better than nothing. He held it out to Janine. "Here. Dis is for you."

Janine pinched the sticky, gooey wrapper between her fingers and held it up in front of her. She forced a smile, trying to appear thrilled. "Wow…gee…thanks."

"Don't mention it." Vinnie bashfully averted his eyes. His gaze came to rest on a daisy by his feet. He leaned over, plucked it out of the ground, and turned back to Janine. He gulped, then, with trembling hands, he reached forward and tucked the flower behind her ear.

"There. Perfect." He stepped back and studied her, smiling. "It's like addin' da smile to da Mona Lisa."

"Vinnie…" Janine blushed a bright crimson. "I hardly know you."

"But you will." He insisted.

Janine stepped back and eyed him warily. "Why do you always sound so fatalistic? It's really freaky."

Vinnie shrugged. "I don't know. All I know for sure is I've got a heck of a best friend, my mom's a decent cook, I don't want to sell showerheads, and da front half of your head is just as beautiful as da back half."

Janine laughed. "Are you normally this crazy?"

Vinnie smiled and clasped his hands together in front of him. "Hey, I'm Italian. What do you expect?"

"I don't know. You're certainly full of surprises."

"Is dat a bad thing?"

"Depends." She smiled coquettishly. "It depends on whether I'm willing to take my chances."

"No risk, no reward." Vinnie swallowed in an attempt to wet his dry mouth. He could hardly believe he was having this conversation with Janine. It was a match of wits and skill, but the game was quickly drawing to a close. He could feel them getting closer and closer. His mind was paralyzed, not wanting to jinx the spell.

"True. Maybe you're not so bad, after all." Janine murmured, slowly leaning forward. She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Vinnie trembled and felt himself go weak in the knees at her touch. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to stay upright. His sensitive bodily reactions around Janine disgusted him to no end. If he'd somehow retained the mental maturity of his former eighteen-year-old self, why couldn't he have kept his physical maturity as well?

She was moving even closer now. He could smell her perfume, Calvin Kline's Obsession. He gulped. It was the same perfume she would wear on their first date. His lips trembled nervously. Before he lost all nerve, he reached out and stopped her. "Wait," he opened his eyes to find he was holding her at arm's length. She smiled and traced the wild patterns of his shirt, feeling her way along his shoulders and forearms.

"Janine, you…you've got to promise me something." He murmured, his voice rising and falling decibels uncontrollably. His fingertips seemed to burn at the touch as they pressed against her back probingly. "No matter what may happen between us…" He swallowed and cleared his throat. The last thing he needed was for his voice to break. "You'll be reasonable, and…and understanding…and you'll love me no matter how much of a jerk I am." He watched her breathlessly, awaiting her answer. It was what he had come for, the pinnacle of their conversation, and his fourteen-year-old impulses were going wild. _You da man, Vincent! Come on! _They screamed in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut fervently. _No! Dis is important! Our whole future depends on dis! _His hands, as if acting on a mind of their own, slowly started moving up and down her back. They taunted him. _You can act all grown-up and serious, sure. But dat doesn't change da fact dat you…are holding…Janine Stewart…IN YOUR ARMS!_

"You sound so sure that you know what's going to happen." She said softly.

"Maybe I do. It…it's one of my many talents." He stammered, his forehead beading up with sweat.

Janine smiled. "You're fun, Vinnie. I like that in a guy." She reached up and played with the folds of his shirt collar. "Okay. I promise."

Vinnie squirmed under her touch, breathing heavily. "S-say it again."

"I promise." She pulled him forward by the collar and before he had a chance to react, she kissed his cheek.

The brief, flitting sensation passed over him, making him feel warm and woozy all over. His stomach pitched and gurgled in protest as he uttered another low whine.

"Oh, no." Janine pulled back in alarm. "Are you gonna puke again?"

"God, I hope not." He whispered. He closed his eyes and held his forehead. He took a couple of deep breaths, willing the sick feeling to pass.

"Are you going to be okay?" Janine worriedly pressed a palm to his forehead.

"Oh," He breathed, leaning into her touch. When he started rocking back on his heels, he had to step away. He simply wasn't strong enough to take the 'poor baby' routine. "Are you kiddin'? I've never felt better in my entire life!"

Janine could clearly see the effect she had over him, and it pleased her. "Call me." She smiled at him in such a way that Vinnie really felt he was going to toss it all over her. But then she moved away and turned back toward the house, carefully cradling the squashed Mars Bar in her hand.

He watched her, waiting until she'd finally closed the front door. As soon as she'd gone, he suddenly felt triumphant, empowered. His sickness washed away as the new feeling surged through him, energizing him to such a giddy high that he felt he could fly. "Yes!" He shouted, leaping in the air and pumping his fist.

At that moment, Mr. Stewart came from around back with a trowel and a stormy expression on his face. When he started across the lawn in his direction, Vinnie didn't wait to be addressed. He turned and sprinted for home as fast as he possibly could.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Vinnie dashed into his room and glanced around frantically. He knew it was here somewhere. But from what he could see, it wasn't. He shook his head. It _had _to be there, it just _had _to!

He knelt to the floor and began rummaging in the junk that lay littered around and underneath his bed. He moved through the items quickly, affording each no more than a cursory glance to ensure himself it wasn't what he was hunting for. As he continued to sift through the items, his frenzied panic increased.

_"I've got a jar in my room with your name on it: Janine. I used to put all my extra money in dere to take you out and buy you things. And every time I looked at it, I got happy. Cause I thought I had a place in your life. And you had one in mine…"_

"Aha!" Vinnie pulled out a crusty, dented plastic jar from underneath a discarded pile of assorted mechanical parts. Aesthetically speaking, the jar certainly wasn't much. Its better days had long since passed. But to Vinnie, it was as if he'd just found the Holy Grail.

He took it over to his crowded desk, kicking the rest of the junk on the floor aside. He shook his head at the mess that greeted him on the desktop. With his arm, he swept a crumpled French assignment and a half-finished biology report onto the floor and plunked the jar down. Muttering to himself, he riffled underneath an overflowing stack of Laker girl pictures on the desktop before finally locating a marker. "Whew!" He cried when he yanked off the cap and smelled the marker's heady aroma. Blinking, he reached out and ripped a scrap off of a nearby sheet of paper before checking to see what it was. An inspection of the back showed that he'd just torn up his algebra worksheet. He shrugged. "Oh, well. I probably wasn't going to do it anyway." He tossed the remnants onto the floor and turned back to his more important task.

He scrawled 'Janine' across the paper in large, off-centered, crooked letters. When he finished, he put the cap back on the marker and studied his handiwork. Okay, it wasn't perfect, but with him, what was? He nodded, satisfied, and tossed the marker back underneath the pile of Laker girls. With a few pieces of scotch tape that he yanked off the nearest wall poster, he firmly attached the label to the side of the jar. Then he picked it up and carried it over to his small dresser top.

He paused and looked down at the different 'special' items he'd placed there so they wouldn't become lost in the clutter of his room. There was his basketball that Magic Johnson had autographed and his lucky gym socks, as he'd noted before. There were also a few photographs that he'd thought worth keeping. He reached down and gently picked up one of two smiling bald-headed children. It had been taken years ago, back when Doogie had leukemia. Vinnie still remembered that day. Doogie had been feeling pretty crummy when he lost his hair in chemotherapy, so Vinnie had walked right into the bathroom and shaved his head out of solidarity. His sacrifice had been just the thing to cheer his friend right up.

He grinned and set the picture back down. He knew he could be brash and insensitive at times, but deep down he had a heart of gold. He couldn't have been a truer friend to Doogie. He slowly placed the jar on the table and propped the photo up against it. Today, he was adding another very dear friend to his life.

Thinking about the jar, he rummaged around in his back pockets and pulled out three pennies, a crumpled gum wrapper, a marble and a paper clip. Shrugging, he unscrewed the lid and plunked the pennies inside. "Never too early to start savin' up, Vincent," he said to himself. "In a few years, you're really gonna need it."

Not knowing what to do, he turned and sat down on his bed. It was pointless going next door to Doogie's. His friend had most likely left already for work at Eastman Medical Center. He didn't want to blow his luck with Janine by trying to see her a second time. There was no way he was going to sit down and attempt to do his shredded up homework. So he contented himself instead to sit and look at the jar on top of his dresser. He smiled as he imagined it filled to the brim with coins. He couldn't help but grin when he thought of what those pennies represented; all the great moments he would get to relive with Janine in the years to come. _You're in love, Vinnie, _he thought absently. _Dere's no two ways about it. You've fallen over da deep end for her. God, I hope da day we break up never happens._

He shifted his elbow and he bumped up against a small, hard object. He looked down to see the remote to his television set lying on the bedspread next to him. "Hey, why not?" He murmured. He snatched up the remote, lay back against the pillows and clicked the television on.

The screen was immediately filled with the barroom set of an old, black and white movie. Musical score softly played in the background as the camera slowly zoomed in on a lone figure seated at the bar. The figure was dressed in a suit and his face was hidden by the large fedora he wore. Several empty glasses lay on the counter in front of him, along with a half-empty bottle. The man slowly shook his head at the mess, his face still concentrated on the counter.

"Hey, _Casablanca! _I love dis movie!" Vinnie, who loved almost every old movie, set down the remote and settled in comfortably to watch it.

But when Humphrey Bogart lifted his head, Vinnie sat bolt upright in shock. "Oh, my God!" He cried, gawking at the screen in disbelief. "It's me!"

It indeed _was _him, only four years older. What he was doing dressed up and in the movie in the place of the hero, Vinnie didn't know. He stared bleakly ahead, his countenance distraught with pain and disillusionment. When Ilsa entered from off-screen, Vinnie nearly fell off his bed. She was _Janine!_

He jumped when she spoke to his counterpart on the screen. _"Vinnie, I have to talk to you."_

_"Uh-huh." _The older Vinnie looked up at her from where he sat and smiled wryly_. "I saved my first drink to have with you. Here," _He slowly picked up a glass and passed it to her.

Janine shook her head at him._ "No. No, Vinnie. Not tonight."_

"Especially _tonight." _Vinnie picked up the bottle on the counter and poured some of the liquid into her glass.

_"Please…" _Janine crossed her arms and looked at him pleadingly. Sighing, Vinnie obliged and stood to face her.

From where he sat on his bed, Vinnie could only watch the events unfolding on the screen in horror-stricken awe.

_"Why did you have to come to Casablanca? Dere are other places." _Vinnie addressed Janine, his tone slightly accusatory.

_"I wouldn't have come here if I'd known that you were here." _Janine protested_. "Believe me, Vinnie, it's true I didn't know…"_

_"It's funny about your voice, how it hasn't changed." _The sardonic smile was back on Vinnie's face._ "I can still hear it. 'I promise you, Vinnie. I'll never, ever break up with you, no matter how much of a jerk you become'…"_

_"Don't, Vinnie! I can understand how you feel."_

_"You understand how I feel." _Vinnie scoffed._ "How long was it we had, honey?"_

Janine sniffed_. "I didn't count the days," _she murmured, on the verge of tears_._

_"Well, I did. Every one of 'em." _Vinnie's expression hardened._ "Mostly I remember da last one. Da wild finish. A guy standing in da middle of his apartment in da dark with a comical look on his face because his insides have been kicked out."_

_"Can I tell you a story, Vinnie?" _Janine asked quietly.

_"No." _He snapped, sitting back down at the counter.

_"But you've never even stopped to consider my story!" _She protested angrily._ "Please, just let me tell you…"_

_"Does it have a wild finish?"_

She paused._ "I don't know the finish yet."_

_"Den no." _Vinnie took another gulp of his drink and stared ahead at the area behind the counter. _"Tell me, Janine. Who was it you left me for? Was it your boss or were dere others in between or…aren't you da kind dat tells?"_

With a cry of anguish, Janine turned and fled from the bar. Vinnie sadly looked down and rested his face in his hands. But instead of fading to black, the camera zoomed in even closer on Vinnie. When he was the only thing still visible in the shot, he lifted his face to stare right at the camera_. "It doesn't have to be dis way, Vinnie."_

Vinnie, still sitting up on his bed, slowly pointed to himself with a trembling finger.

_"Dat's right. I'm talkin' to you." _The older Vinnie pointed to him._ "What do you think you're doin', Vincent Delpino? Hidin' in da past ain't gonna solve your problems." _He gestured to the scene around him._ "Dis is coming, whether you want it to or not! Running away isn't going to solve anything. Da time to fix things with Janine is right here, right now. It's time to wake up and face reality, Vinnie, before it really becomes too late…too late…late…"_

Vinnie blinked, suddenly drowsy. His eyelids drooped, blurring the contours of his other self on the screen. "No…" He mumbled. "No…I don't wanna go…"

_"Come on, Vinnie. Wake up…wake up…up…" _The older Vinnie's voice echoed distantly from somewhere overhead.

Vinnie swayed, slowly lying back down on his bed. Something inside him was fighting this feeling with all its might, but the pull was far too great. The black and white illuminating from the television screen now seemed to envelop the whole room, surrounding Vinnie in a dreamlike fog. He could hardly feel himself anymore. He couldn't even be frightened. A strong, bright force was pulling him back and away. The fog grew deeper…and thicker…and grayer…

_"Vinnie…come on…can you hear me? Vinnie…Vinnie…VINNIE!"_

_-_

"Vinnie, wake up! Can you hear me?"

Vinnie frowned. Why was the world shaking? He moaned softly. "I'm not goin'…go back in da tv…"

"Vinnie, come on! Wake up!"

The hand that was shaking him finally stopped. Vinnie turned his head and reluctantly opened his eyes. After a few moments, he could make out the form of his best friend leaning over him. "Doog, you're definitely not da first thing I wanna see in da morning."

Doogie Howser shook his head. "You didn't return my call last night. I came over here this morning to see if you're all right, and you're stretched out on the couch sound asleep!" He marched over to the television and clicked it off.

"Whoa…" Vinnie held his head, slowly sitting up. He looked down at his rumpled clothes, the couch, the videotapes, the can of peanuts. His gaze wandered to the walls, where he saw the old movie posters, the television, the crooked mirror, the clock on the mantle. A couple of old pizza boxes sat in the corner. He sighed and shook his head. "I just had da weirdest dream."

As if to reassure himself, Vinnie got up off the couch and padded over to the mirror on the wall. He assessed his reflection warily, his hands feeling along his face. He looked just as he should. No zit, no Roman nose, no big ears. He leaned close to the mirror and peered at his cheeks. The tiny freckles were gone. Just to make sure, he clutched at the hair at the back of his neck and found it was short, just as it should be. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Man, but dat was some dream."

"Oh? What did you dream about?" Doogie asked, sifting through the video titles on Vinnie's coffee table.

"Don't think you can start some psychoanalysis on me or anything." Vinnie held up his hand warningly. "But get dis: I dreamed dat I went back in time. I was fourteen again. You were fourteen again. Janine was fourteen again. It was freaky." He vaulted over the back of the couch and plopped back down on the cushion.

His friend smiled at him, holding up _The Creature from the Black Lagoon. _"I think you went a little overboard on the sci-fi films, Vinnie."

"You think?" Vinnie paused, thinking it over for a second. "So you're saying that maybe…if I was watchin' science fiction movies, and I had a science fiction movie-type dream, dat means my subconscious is wired on movies, too." He grinned. "With a brain like dis, I'm gonna be one heck of a filmmaker!" He caught sight of the blank stack of notebook paper and his face fell. "Dat is, if I don't flunk film school first."

"What's the problem, Vin?" Doogie sat down in a lumpy armchair, frowning in concern.

"Only da reason I was watchin' all dese movies in da first place." Vinnie rolled his eyes. "It's dis stupid assignment Professor Meade gave us. I'm supposed to write a science fiction screenplay for my midterm final, but da ideas just aren't comin' to me! Everyone else in da class is practically finished already! Darren Schubert even wrote end credits for his! You know me, I can't get anything done in da classroom with Professor Meathead starin' over my shoulder. I can't take dis. Da pressure's higher den ever, and I'm stumped!" Suddenly, he sat up with a jolt. "Unless…"

Doogie watched bemusedly as Vinnie snatched up the paper and pencil and began scribbling away furiously.

"A guy breaks up with his girlfriend…no, no, _she _breaks up with _him…_" He muttered to himself, "…his doctor friend…no, his _evil genius _doctor friends holds da secret to youth and da guy persuades his friend to use it on him and his girlfriend to make dem young again…Doog, dis is great!"

Doogie laughed. "Vin, your script sounds a lot like Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, _Dr. Heidegger's Experiment._"

"Perfect! Dat's what I'll call it:_ Dr. Howser's Experiment…_"

-

" 'Winnie den proceeded to hit her with his car,'" Vinnie read out loud from his paper hours later. He stewed over the sentence for a minute before shaking his head and scrubbing the paper with his eraser. "No, no, no. 'Winnie proceeded to run her over with his truck.' Dat's better." He smiled and shrugged. "What da heck, let's make it a bulldozer!"

No sooner had he finished making his corrections when he leaned back and paused to think over his last sentence. When Janine had walked out of his apartment, that was exactly how he'd felt: like he'd just been mauled over by a bulldozer.

Slowly, he got up from his seat at the desk and moved over to the crates of junk piled up by his bed. They were full of things he'd brought with him from home and never bothered to unpack. As if in a daze, he knelt and systematically began sifting through their contents.

All of his childhood mementos lay inside: his pictures of swimsuit models, movie posters, soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs mixed among a few photographs he'd thought worth keeping and tapes of his earliest documentaries and film projects that he couldn't watch without cringing anymore but kept solely for sentimental purposes. All of these he picked up and laid aside without pausing.

He finally found what he was looking for at the bottom of one of the crates, underneath a couple of ratty shirts and an old, soiled pair of Batman underwear. He pulled out the cracked, flimsy plastic jar, its 'Janine' label halfway peeled off the side. He moved away from the crates and sat down on the floor, the jar between his legs. Slowly, he unscrewed the lid and peered inside.

Nothing. The jar was completely empty.

With shaking fingers, he dropped the jar, where it made a hollow thud on the floor. He buried his face in his hands and wept.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Janine Stewart finished fixing the blazer of her business suit before the mirror one last time before grabbing her purse and starting for the front door. She hummed a tune under her breath and smiled at the bright California sunshine streaming in through her front window. It was a beautiful fall day in Brentwood. Her spirits seemed to lift with the weather. She paused only to fish her car keys out of her pocketbook before pulling open the door.

Vinnie Delpino stood on her front doorstep, wearing his usual short-sleeve button-up over his t-shirt and jeans. His short black hair had been carefully combed and gelled. In his hands, he held a small bouquet of daisies. He wore his lucky gym socks on his feet and a rueful smile on his face.

As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, Janine slammed the door in his face.

"Wait, Janine!" Vinnie pounded on the door with his fist. "Open up! I came to apologize!"

There was no response.

"Lambcakes, please!" He pleaded. "I'm sorry! Just talk to me, I'll be brief!"

Still nothing. Vinnie could detect no movement from within. His shoulders sagged as he gazed up at the door, disheartened. "I brought you flowers! Baby, don't do dis to me! I love you! Doesn't dat mean anything to you?"

He sighed and leaned against the wall by the door. "I know I messed up! But I'm willing to make up for it! Think of all da great times we've had together! Are you gonna throw all dose away just because of one lousy night? Lovepetal?" He tapped gently on the door with his fingers, gazing up at it with anxious hope. "Please, say something. Tell me. Let me know if I've even got a prayer of winning you back."

He stamped his foot impatiently when all he got was silence in return. "Listen, Janine. You can't hide out in dere forever. You're going to have to leave da house sometime. And I'm gonna stay right here until you come out and face me!"

A car started up behind him and he turned around in time to see Janine quickly backing her car out of the driveway. She'd tricked him! She must have snuck out the back way while he'd been standing here, talking to the door! He cursed and sprinted after her, waving his arms wildly. "Hey! Janine!"

He was too late. Her car backed onto the road and quickly sped away.

Vinnie stopped in the middle of her yard and hung his head dejectedly. A moment later, the sprinklers turned on. He noticed them raining down over his head, but he hardly cared. The drenching, cold water was the perfect accessory for his mood. On that thought, he slowly trudged away with wet clothes and a heavy heart.

-

"Delpino! Put these in the dishwasher when you get finished on drive-thru!" A stormy-faced, middle-aged man with thinning brown hair plunked a box of dirty pots on the counter and stormed away.

"Yes, Mr. Lamore." Vinnie muttered, rolling his eyes. He sifted through the pots disinterestedly. So the boss had finally decided that the steel ware they used to mix milkshakes and coleslaw finally needed cleaning. That was always a positive sign. They certainly needed one.

He turned back to his register when a low bell tone sounded over the speaker, signaling that someone had pulled into the drive-thru. He pulled the microphone sitting on top of the register over toward his mouth. "Welcome to Burger Baby. Can I help you?"

He glanced down and flicked a speck of lint off his shirt. He was wearing his work uniform: a tan visor with the words 'Burger Baby' printed in magenta across the top, a plain blue-green polo tucked neatly into his khaki pants, and a small plastic nametag clipped to his shirt that also sported the Burger Baby logo and, in smaller type underneath it, the words 'My name is VINNIE.'

As if college wasn't enough, Vinnie was also one of the regular grease jockeys at Burger Baby, the local fast food joint. He hated having to work there, but he really had no choice in the matter. Because the 'milk-Carmine-and-Angela-for-every-cent-you-can-get' fund had long since run dry, he needed the minimum wages desperately. After all, how else was he supposed to pay for the rent on his apartment, his car, his books, his laundry, his food and a million and one other things? And ever since his breakup with Janine, he'd been putting in several extra hours.

A muffled, static-filled response came back over the speaker. Vinnie listened to it calmly and punched a couple of buttons on the register. The order was immediately called up on the screen hanging overhead. "Your total's $11.15. Please pull around."

He turned away from the window and sighed. Life was so unfair to the average, unskilled American teenager! Reluctantly, he picked up the box and carried it back toward the dishwasher they kept in the back.

As he passed by behind the counter, Charlie Morris, who was working one of the front registers, turned and laid a hand on his arm.

"Hey," he pointed to one of the booths in the crowded restaurant. "Isn't that your girlfriend?"

Vinnie followed his gaze and dropped the box of bowls and mixing utensils on the floor, where they scattered with a deafening crash. He could only see the back of her head, but it was enough to make him freeze, mesmerized. The back of Janine's lovely, silken, shapely blonde head. The first thing about her he'd fallen in love with. "Oh, man." He murmured softly. "You mean my ex-girlfriend."

Charlie frowned in confusion. "But if you guys broke up, why did she come here? She knows you work here, doesn't she?"

"Dis ain't my usual shift." Vinnie shook his head wistfully. "Believe me, if we hadn't broke up da other night, we'd be sitting in my apartment with da lights off right now." He brushed off his shirt and did a breath check on his hand. "Do I look okay?"

Charlie looked down at him and shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"What did she order?"

Charlie pointed to the other register. "I don't know. She was in Doreen's line."

"Delpino!"

Vinnie whirled around to see Mr. Lamore frowning at him in dismay. The box of kitchenware lay accusingly at his feet. He winced and waited for what was to come.

"What are you trying to do, kill me?" He gestured to the mess on the floor. "I told you to put this stuff away five minutes ago! I got a whole line of cars backing up the drive-thru because no one's there to take their orders! What are you, some kind of idiot?"

"I'm sorry," Vinnie mumbled, dropping to his hands and knees and gathering up the mess.

"You're sorry! Sorry doesn't feed the bulldog around here, mister! You're acting like a screw-up! I thought you were one of my better employees! Get your act together!" Lamore turned to Charlie and pointed at the window in exasperation. "Morris, take Delpino's spot on drive-thru. Johnson, get on the counter!"

The teens scattered to their posts as Mr. Lamore stormed away. Vinnie, meanwhile, had quickly finished gathering all the mixing bowls back in the box. He turned and shoved it underneath the counter next to a box containing packages of plastic forks and spoons. Nobody would miss it for a few minutes, he reasoned. He crawled on his hands and knees over to a tall blonde standing behind the other register, who was twisting her hair around her finger in boredom. "Psst! Hey, Doreen!" He tugged on her pant leg. "Down here!"

She slowly rotated her head and gave him an odd look. "What?"

"Dat blonde in da blazer with da brown eyes and gorgeous smile." Vinnie poked his head over the counter and pointed to Janine's booth. "What did she order?"

"Oh, her?" Doreen turned and riffled through the receipts stacked next to her register. Vinnie waited, drumming his fingers on the linoleum impatiently. Doreen certainly wasn't the brightest employee, for all that she was Mr. Lamore's niece.

"Here it is." She finally pulled one of the tickets out. "She just ordered a large Kiddie Cola. But she's still waiting on it." She turned and pointed to where the custodial worker was bent over the drink dispenser. "The coke machine broke. Norman's been trying to fix it."

"Huh," the old, grizzled janitor grunted upon hearing his name. Bald on top, Norman had more than his share of wrinkles and was missing quite a few teeth. He looked like a cross between a zombie and a pirate. He had the ability to scare little boys out of the restroom when he went to sweep up just by his appearance alone. But he never said much and was, for the most part, harmless. The Burger Baby employees tolerated him well enough.

Vinnie held his breath and slowly moved over to stand next to the man. He personally liked to keep his distance from the silent janitor whenever he could because for some odd reason, Norman always seemed to smell like feet. "How's it comin', Norm?" He gushed in a short exhalation of breath.

Norman didn't answer. He didn't even turn his head to look at Vinnie. He simply set down his wrench and gently pressed the button. Nothing happened. He pressed it again, harder this time. Still nothing. With an angry "harrumph," he punched the button and cola began spewing steadily from the dispenser. It didn't stop, however, and it had soon overflowed the spill rack and was now creating a trickling stream over the counter and onto the floor.

"I'll take care of her drink, Doreen." Vinnie called, grabbing a large cup and holding it underneath the tiny waterfall long enough to fill it up. He turned and set the drink down on a tray, picked it up and carried it confidently over toward Janine's booth.

"Whatever." Doreen muttered, scrubbing at a grease spot on the counter with her fingernail.

"You want fries with that?" Charlie asked into the drive-thru microphone, his voice tinged with sarcasm. At that moment, a commotion from the dining area portion out front arrested his attention. Namely, he heard Vinnie Delpino's raised voice cry out, "Just give me a chance to apologize!" He turned his head in the direction of the noise and was just in time to see the girl sitting at the booth stand, dump her drink over Vinnie's head, and walk out.

Stunned, Vinnie slowly walked back behind the counter and stood dripping next to Charlie. The rest of the customers had resumed their meal and the voice on the drive-thru speaker was going a mile a minute. Vinnie crossed his arms and shivered.

Charlie turned to him casually, his eyes twinkling. "I take it things didn't go too well."

"No," Vinnie snapped, frowning. He stood there a few seconds longer in forlorn silence before gesturing to the kitchen area around back. "I think I'm gonna go stand by the fryers for a while…"

An ice cube slid off his visor brim and fell to the floor. Vinnie paused to stare at it and shook his head sadly, wondering where his sense of dignity had gone.

-

"I've never felt like such a total loser in my entire life!" Vinnie complained later, sitting on the edge of Doogie's couch. His friend sat across from him, a tv dinner tray perched on his lap. Vinnie's own tray lay untouched on the coffee table. He couldn't seem to muster up much of an appetite that evening. "Dis just ain't workin' for me, Doog. I've tried twice today to apologize to her and both times I ended up all wet!"

"Maybe you're taking the wrong approach to this." Doogie reached out and clicked the television on to the evening news. He reclined back on the couch of his apartment lazily, careful not to bump his dinner tray.

"Wrong approach?!" Vinnie cried. "I'm groveling on my hands and knees for forgiveness and she won't even speak to me!"

Doogie sighed. Must his friend always carp about something till he helped him out? "Well, it's obvious that she's not going to take a simple apology, Vin. You really got her upset this time. It's going to have to take you doing something more."

"Like what? Kiss her feet and promise to be her slave for the rest of our born days?" Vinnie snorted. "I've still got _some _of my pride!"

"No, Vin." Doogie massaged his temple. "I mean, do something spectacular. Sweep her off her feet. Make her _want _you again."

"Easy enough for you to say." Vinnie rolled his eyes. "Janine ain't dat easily impressed. I mean, she had _me _for a boyfriend." He grinned, placing a hand on his chest. "How am I supposed to know what Janine's idea of spectacular is?"

"You've been dating for…how long? Two years?"

Vinnie spread his arms wide. "Janine's fickle! In da time I've known her, she's constantly been up and down like a roller coaster! You can never tell with her. One minute she's hot, da next minute she's cold. Believe me, I oughta know." He shook his head. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

Doogie sat up. "Yeah, like about how you two ever ended up together in the first place."

Vinnie frowned and hurled a pillow at his friend.

Doogie ducked the shot, laughing. "Okay, okay! I'll help!" He turned and picked up his telephone. "Why don't we find out where she's having dinner tonight?"

"Doog, are you crazy?" Vinnie protested. "It'll never work! Dere's no way she'll fall for dat gag!" He sat back against the cushion and folded his arms. "I bet she's probably goin' out again with dat jerk boss of hers. Da last place I need to be is at dat barf fest. Besides, I still smell like coke from da lunch encounter!"

His eyes widened in alarm as he watched his friend calmly punch in a number on the keypad. "You're not actually doin' it, are you?" He jumped up and reached for the phone. "Doog!"

"Hi, Janine! How's it going?" Doogie wrestled the phone out of Vinnie's reach and winked at him. His friend stood over him, shaking his head and making slashing motions across his throat. "Yeah, this is Doogie. I was just wondering…" He smiled. "No, Vinnie's not here. In fact, I haven't heard from him all day." He suddenly cringed and held the phone away from his ear.

"If that little twerp put you up to this, I have nothing else to say to you!" Janine's voice shouted clearly over the line.

Doogie pensively put the phone back up to his ear. "I promise you, Janine. Vinnie had nothing to do with this call." He looked over at Vinnie again, who was still motioning for him to hang up. "In fact, I have a good feeling he probably wouldn't want me to be talking to you right now."

He paused, listening to her reply. "Oh, okay. I'll call you later, then. Bye." He turned and grinned smugly at his best friend.

"I hate you, you know dat?" Vinnie sneered.

Doogie raised his eyebrows. "She was just on her way out the door. Her boss is taking her out to eat at the Millionaire's Club."

"Da Millionaire's Club? What's she doin' goin' out to dat swanky joint?" Vinnie gaped at Doogie incredulously. His blood quickly started to boil at the thought. "She can't go out dere with him! Anything could happen to her!"

"Do I detect a note of jealousy?" Doogie grinned.

"No!" Vinnie scoffed. "No, are you kiddin'? I'm not jealous! I'm worried about her safety! In dat high society joint, who knows what dat jerk is gonna pull to try to impress her?"

Doogie shrugged. "Hey, you know her plans. I got you the information. It's up to you to figure out what you're going to do about it."

"Yeah, but what?" Vinnie sat back and sighed.

Doogie turned back to watch the television. The news had just ended. He pushed around the now cold dinner on his tray, contemplating whether or not he wanted to get up and reheat it. Then he shrugged and delved into it again. The opening theme of 'Perfect Strangers' was now playing on screen. He smiled and hummed along with the catchy tune.

Vinnie crossed his arms and pouted, too upset to watch television. At this rate, Janine would never take him back! The world might as well end. He didn't care. He never thought he'd think this, but right now, dying a virgin was preferable to continuing without Janine in his life.

He grumpily listened to Doogie humming with the song. Just as the sound was getting too much for his nerves to bear, it clicked. He smiled, the gears in his head turning faster than ever before. The obvious solution was staring him right in the face. "Yes…" He murmured. "Yes, dat's it!"

He leapt to his feet again. This time, however, he was glowing with excitement. "Doog, you're a genius!"

"Yeah, I've always known…" Doogie turned his head to see Vinnie scrambling toward the elevator. "Hey, where are you off to in such a big hurry?"

"Catch you later, Doog! Thanks a lot!" Vinnie called over his shoulder, grinning. "I gotta go get ready. I'm goin' to da Millionaire's Club tonight!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"It was very kind of all of you to invite me to dinner." Janine smiled pleasantly at her boss's wife and children seated on either side of her.

Her employer watched her with a complacent grin from across the table. "The pleasure is mine, Janine. After all the fine work you do for me day in and day out, the least I can do is treat you to dinner and introduce you to my family."

Across the dining room, Vinnie sat at his table and set a small sack down in front of him. He looked around the room and pretended not to see Janine seated across the way. He turned his attention instead to the packed room full of stuffy monkey suits and million-dollar dresses. Elegantly dressed waiters moved to and fro around the tables, still smooth and graceful in the dim lighting of the room. Only three feet away from his table, a pianist sat playing a soft jazz melody. At the piano's base were a couple of low steps leading up to a wide platform where a group of suited musicians played tunes right out of Laurence Welk. He nodded, impressed. The place was certainly a far cry from Burger Baby.

A waiter approached his table with a menu. Vinnie shook his head and waved him away. He turned and looked indecisively at the stage platform. He pulled a packet of papers out of his parcel and sighed.

_You don't have to do dis, you know, _his conscience protested. _You can turn right around and go home without anyone knowin'. Of course, if you walk outta here, dat also means you'd be walkin' out on Janine…_

He turned and gazed dolefully at his ex-girlfriend. _Janine. You have to. You have to do dis for her. It may be your last chance._

Bravely, he stood, straightened his tie and marched over to the musicians with his stack of papers. "Hey, guys. Come here, I wanna talk to you."

Janine was still laughing airily at the light chatter when her boss looked up and lifted his glass in the direction of the stage. "Their singer must have arrived."

Janine turned her head to see a short figure mount the stage and consult with the group. He wore a dark suit and blue tie over a plain white shirt that looked slightly long, as if it didn't quite fit. He gestured vehemently as he spoke to the musicians. Not one of the short black hairs moved on his head. In fact, his hair was so well-oiled that it looked like he'd just stepped out of the shower, but it was combed neatly to perfection. When he turned around to adjust the microphone, Janine went pale with shock. The familiar dark complexion, brown eyes, and crooked teeth smiled back at her. She knew he'd looked far too familiar. "Vinnie," she breathed in disbelief.

"You know this guy?" Her boss asked conversationally.

"He's my ex-boyfriend!" She cried in dismay. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. As soon as the initial shock wore off, however, her cheeks flushed red with anger. "What is _he _doing here?"

"Uh, excuse me, people." Vinnie tapped on the microphone and it made a long, drawn-out screech that arrested the chatter in the dining room. All eyes turned toward the stage. He smiled meekly. "Hey, I'm sorry to be interrupting your dinner like dis, but dis is something very special. So special dat it couldn't wait." He scanned the attentive audience and relaxed, smiling. "I bet you didn't know dat sitting among you tonight is a very important person; my girlfriend, Janine."

Janine looked down at her lap, self-consciously feeling the gazes flickering her way. _Just shut up, Vinnie, _she thought, _just shut up and leave me alone._

"So some of you are probably wondering what da heck I'm doin' up here when I should be sittin' down with her. Some of you don't even care, but I'm gonna tell you anyway." Vinnie grinned. "Well, you see, like in most relationships, I made a mistake. And not just any mistake! It was a more like a 'jump out of an airplane without a parachute and fall flat on your face' kind of mistake. I'm talkin' huge. To make a long story short, Janine got upset, which she had every right to be. I behaved like scum. And I understand if she never wants to speak to me again, but hey, I love her. You can't blame a desperate guy for trying, right? So, um, you can all go back to eatin' or whatever. It doesn't make a difference. As far as I'm concerned, dere's only one person sitting out dere dat matters to me." He looked out at her table and met her flustered gaze. He smiled. "Janine, dis is for you."

Vinnie stepped away from the microphone and leaned against the top of the piano. "Play it, Sam."

The pianist frowned. "My name's not Sam."

"I know. I just always wanted to say dat." Vinnie grinned and took center stage once more. The pianist shrugged and began the opening bars of the song placed before him. The rest of the ensemble followed suit.

Vinnie stepped up to the microphone and clutched the stand with trembling hands. He felt like he was going to croak, but when he opened his mouth, the words still somehow came out the way they were supposed to:

_"Even though it's been so long,_

_My love for you's still going strong._

_I remember da things dat we used to do._

_A kiss in da rain till da sun shined through._

_I tried to deny it, but I'm still in love with you."_

Sitting at her table, Janine closed her eyes. "Oh, no. He's singing our song."

_"I miss you like crazy, I miss you like crazy._

_Ever since you've been away, every hour of every day._

_I miss you like crazy, I miss you like crazy._

_No matter what I say or do, dere's just no getting over you."_

Vinnie's voice pitched and fell audibly out of the correct range for the music. Even to his ears, it wasn't shower-worthy. But nobody was booing or catcalling him off the stage. In fact, when he took a quick glance around, almost everyone looked as if they were actually _enjoying _it. _Incredible, _he thought to himself, _dese highbrows actually dig my singing. I mean, I know I can carry a tune, but I'm no Frank Sinatra!_

He caught sight of Janine, who stared right back at him. She seemed almost in a dreamlike trance. All the traces of anger had left her countenance. Happiness surged through Vinnie's veins. It was working! The invigoration surfaced in his voice, throwing more conviction behind his words:

_"I can see da love shining in your eyes_

_And it comes as such a sweet surprise."_

Janine's boss and his wife were murmuring to each other somewhere in the distance about the show Vinnie was putting on, but she hardly heard it. As hard as she tried not to, a smile was beginning to pull at the corners of her mouth. Slowly, she stood and began making her way toward the stage.

_"It seems believing it's worth da wait._

_So hold me and tell me it's not too…late…"_

Vinnie stumbled over the words as she approached him. He started to feel a little nervous, then noticed she was smiling. Excitedly, he picked up the song again with renewed vigor:

_"I miss you like crazy._

_I miss you, baby!_

_A love like ours will never end,_

_Just touch me and we'll love again!"_

Janine stopped at the edge of the small platform and waited expectantly. Vinnie turned and descended the steps to meet her. When they were standing at eye level, he could hardly keep the hope out of his eyes. Their mirrored gazes met nettle-for-nettle. Vinnie shivered and groped for her hand. She let him take it and finally broke into a smile.

"Did I sweep you off your feet, Janina?" He asked softly.

She stifled a laugh. "Oh, Vincentio!" She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the mouth.

The diners erupted into appreciative applause. Oblivious, Vinnie and Janine went right on kissing. They were the crazy, passionate lovers of old who didn't care where they were, so long as they were together. Vinnie sometimes wondered why it always seemed that way. Then, when Janine melted into his arms, the rest of the universe just seemed to disappear and he didn't care. It wasn't much of an answer, but for him, at least, it was enough.

He turned his head, breathlessly murmuring in her ear, "Does dis mean we're back together again?"

Janine only smiled at him in response, tracing her finger along his smooth cheek. He looked so appealing that she had to wonder how she could ever be angry with him. He may have been a jerk at times in the past, but he was so passionate, so loving. And he was always unbelievably adorable. The way he looked at her won her heart over in an instant. She gently cupped his face in her hands and kissed him again.

There would be no more nightmares about reliving the past for Vinnie. With a little help and ingenuity, he'd skirted disaster and gotten back together with Janine. All was right with the world. For now, his present was perfect and his future was looking bright.

Vinnie hugged her close and pulled her over toward his table. Without tearing his mouth away from Janine's, he reached down and lifted the sack off of a familiar, endearing heirloom. From his pocket, he pulled out a handful of pennies and dumped them into the jar.


End file.
